National Basketball Association - Teams

Teams

See also: List of defunct National Basketball Association teams and List of relocated National Basketball Association teams Raptors Celtics Knicks Nets 76ers Bulls Cavaliers Pistons Pacers Bucks Hawks Bobcats Heat Magic Wizards Mavericks Rockets Grizzlies Hornets Spurs Nuggets Timberwolves Trail Blazers Thunder Jazz Warriors Kings Suns Clippers Lakers

The NBA originated in 1946 with 11 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, reductions, and relocations currently consists of 30 teams. The United States is home to 29 teams and one is located in Canada. The Boston Celtics have won the most championships with 17 NBA Finals wins. The second most successful franchise is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have 16 overall championships (11 in Los Angeles, 5 in Minneapolis). Following the Lakers are the Chicago Bulls with six championships, all of them over an 8-year span during the 1990s, and the San Antonio Spurs with four championships, all since 1999.

The current league organization divides thirty teams into two conferences of three divisions with five teams each. The current divisional alignment was introduced in the 2004–05 season.

Division	Team	City, Region	Arena	Founded	Joined
Eastern Conference
Atlantic	Boston Celtics	Boston, MA	TD Garden	1946
	Brooklyn Nets	Brooklyn, New York City, NY	Barclays Center	1967*	1976
	New York Knicks	Manhattan, New York City, NY	Madison Square Garden	1946
	Philadelphia 76ers	Philadelphia, PA	Wells Fargo Center	1946*	1949
	Toronto Raptors	Toronto, ON	Air Canada Centre	1995
Central	Chicago Bulls	Chicago, IL	United Center	1966
	Cleveland Cavaliers	Cleveland, OH	Quicken Loans Arena	1970
	Detroit Pistons	Auburn Hills, MI	The Palace of Auburn Hills	1941*	1948
	Indiana Pacers	Indianapolis, IN	Bankers Life Fieldhouse	1967	1976
	Milwaukee Bucks	Milwaukee, WI	BMO Harris Bradley Center	1968
Southeast	Atlanta Hawks	Atlanta, GA	Philips Arena	1946*	1949
	Charlotte Bobcats	Charlotte, NC	Time Warner Cable Arena	2004
	Miami Heat	Miami, FL	American Airlines Arena	1988
	Orlando Magic	Orlando, FL	Amway Center	1989
	Washington Wizards	Washington, D.C.	Verizon Center	1961*
Western Conference
Northwest	Denver Nuggets	Denver, CO	Pepsi Center	1967	1976
	Minnesota Timberwolves	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	1989
	Oklahoma City Thunder	Oklahoma City, OK	Chesapeake Energy Arena	1967*
	Portland Trail Blazers	Portland, OR	Rose Garden	1970
	Utah Jazz	Salt Lake City, UT	EnergySolutions Arena	1974*
Pacific	Golden State Warriors	Oakland, CA	Oracle Arena	1946*
	Los Angeles Clippers	Los Angeles, CA	Staples Center	1970*
	Los Angeles Lakers	Los Angeles, CA	Staples Center	1947*	1948
	Phoenix Suns	Phoenix, AZ	US Airways Center	1968
	Sacramento Kings	Sacramento, CA	Sleep Train Arena	1945*	1948
Southwest	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas, TX	American Airlines Center	1980
	Houston Rockets	Houston, TX	Toyota Center	1967*
	Memphis Grizzlies	Memphis, TN	FedExForum	1995*
	New Orleans Hornets	New Orleans, LA	New Orleans Arena	1988*
	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio, TX	AT&T Center	1967*	1976

Notes

1. An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move. See the respective team articles for more information.
2. The Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers and Rochester Royals all joined the NBA (BAA) in 1948 from the NBL.
3. The Syracuse Nationals and Tri-Cities Blackhawks joined the NBA in 1949 as part of the BAA-NBL merger.
4. The Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs, and Denver Nuggets all joined the NBA in 1976 as part of the NBA-ABA merger.